Over the holiday, I went out with 'the girls' once on a Byte. We did a practice session. I haven't sailed dinghies in a long time and I need to retrain my body to the narrow confined of their mini cockpit, the super uncomfortable posture of light air as I struggle to fit as low as possible and as close to the centerboard as I could.
Tacking and gybing is also challenging and required new re-traiing - eg which side of the boat to be on and when, which hand should be holding the tiller, which hand should be holding the main sheet, etc...
Then, I had to learn to look at my sail and figure out how the various controls affect boat speed. Well, I am still learning. It's just a whole new set of tricks and skills I need to relearn.
We did a couple of mock races; I won one. During the upwind leg, I was starting to experiment with boat speed and I could match that of the winner of the first race and an experience Byte sailor. Given that one of my weaknesses is light air sailing, not bad for my 2nd time on a Byte.
I just can't wait to get a bit more wind so that I can start playing around with the real fun...hiking out...
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